Jersey to Southampton row raises over £36,000

Congratulations to the eleven members of staff from University Hospital Southampton who arrived into Ocean Village, Southampton in the early hours of 9th June in a 32 foot, six-oared rowing boat.

These rowers successfully completed the first ever Jersey to Southampton row, navigating one of the busiest shipping channels in the world!

The gruelling 28-hour event, known as J2S and described as “epic” by five-time Olympic gold medallist Steve Redgrave, aimed to raise £20,000 for the city’s Children’s Emergency and Trauma Department Appeal, but has smashed this target, already raising above £36,000.

The journey completed the team’s target to visit every trauma unit in the network by their own steam having already cycled across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Wiltshire, and West Sussex.

The state-of-the-art £5.1 million facility, due to be fully operational by Spring 2019, will see more than 30,000 youngsters every year. To fund the project, Southampton Hospital Charity has partnered with The Murray Parish Trust to raise £2 million. This will be matched by the government, and a further £1.1 million allocated by University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

David James, Post CCT Fellow for Paediatric Emergency Medicine, and J2S rower, said: “This was a gruelling challenge for the whole team and was only made possible by the huge support we had already received from family and friends. We are so excited to hear how much money we have raised for the new department which we know will improve the care we can provide to children and young people not only in Southampton but across the entire region.”

Suzie Simmons, Head of Fundraising, comments: “This was a phenomenal once-in-a-lifetime challenge for our staff to undertake, and an amazing accomplishment for them to actually achieve. They all put in so much time to train for this event, and they should be very proud of what they have done.”

“Without our sponsors, this challenge would not have been possible, so we want to say a special thank you to EMR, Bradbeers, Ocorian, and Drive Personnel Transport & Logistics Specialists.”